I think one of the biggest issues with the influence system and how it relates to item acquisitions is the break of immersion that comes when you fail an easy roll due to bad luck. An affluent Inquisitorial agent coming up short on the money for a box of autogun rounds is a little immersion shattering, to say the least. I have an idea to prevent those situations, in the form of these rules;

Direct Purchases

Some goods and services are so cheap and simple to obtain that there's really no need to roll influence for their acquisition.

Compare your Influence bonus to the table. If an acquisition has an availability modifier (after applying any appropriate modifiers, including your Commerce skill) the same or easier than your listed Acquisition Threshold, you may successfully complete the acquisition without rolling against Influence. Acquisitions of this type may be completed IFb times per session.

This is fairly rough, and may well be a horrible idea, but I figured I'd post it up as food for thought. Opinions?

If a task is so trivial that failing it is an unbelievable exception case or nothing interesting could come from failing it, don't roll. There doesn't need to be a table to tell you that yes, of course your affluent agent is able to locate shotgun shells under normal circumstances. The only time you should roll anything is when the outcome could reasonably go either way and both ways are potentially interesting.

That's a fair argument, but I know for a lot of people, drawing that line is a difficult task to do, so I think adding a little structure to it wouldn't be an awful move.

Yes. Maybe just a sentence that says "...you only need to roll here if there's some special difficulty."

Yes. Maybe just a sentence that says "...you only need to roll here if there's some special difficulty."

It's there already, but in the chapter on running the game. Paraphrasing: "don't involve tests unless failure is interesting."

But yeah, it's such good advice it probably does bear repeating in quite a few places.

That's a fair argument, but I know for a lot of people, drawing that line is a difficult task to do, so I think adding a little structure to it wouldn't be an awful move.

For me the line seems very easy. If the characteristic + modifiers add up to 100 or more , and DOS do nothing interesting, there is no point rolling.

If there is a 1% chance to fail the acquisition roll, that means failure is probably due to you either not finding anyone selling the item, or you find the one idiot shopkeeper who refuses to sell it to you at any price.

I am not fond of the fact that starting acolites have 40-50% chance of failing to find food or shelter. (which I believe is +30 mod). So I am in complete agreement with proposed rule in original post.

I think one of the biggest issues with the influence system and how it relates to item acquisitions is the break of immersion that comes when you fail an easy roll due to bad luck. An affluent Inquisitorial agent coming up short on the money for a box of autogun rounds is a little immersion shattering, to say the least. I have an idea to prevent those situations, in the form of these rules;

Direct Purchases

Some goods and services are so cheap and simple to obtain that there's really no need to roll influence for their acquisition.

Compare your Influence bonus to the table. If an acquisition has an availability modifier (after applying any appropriate modifiers, including your Commerce skill) the same or easier than your listed Acquisition Threshold, you may successfully complete the acquisition without rolling against Influence. Acquisitions of this type may be completed IFb times per session.

This is fairly rough, and may well be a horrible idea, but I figured I'd post it up as food for thought. Opinions?

I tried using something like this last night with my group and we liked it. I started mine at +60 so its a bit more restrictive and did so only because I have been using the DW style +60 to -60 difficulty chart consistently for forever. Still, I basically stole the idea, the PCs picked out some items that they wanted which proved to be easily accessible and they were pleased with it.

Glad to hear that a group has actually found a use for something like this. I think it's definitely a good move, makes it so that, as your influence grows, trivial items aren't a big deal.

An Inquisitor shouldn't have to fuss over buying some autogun rounds or hotel lodgings, after all, but by RAW he'd easily have a chance to fail at acquiring those things, which is ridiculous. Plus, it makes climbing the Influence ladder a lot more appealing, because it gives you more stable access to useful equipment and services.

It is a good concept, which my arch-enemy Mr. Tom Cruise brought up here.

And if I am saying this - it means something

The other important point is that failing a roll shouldn't always mean failing to obtain goods/services. The GM can always say that the players manage to get what they're after but there's some sort of penalty; - this is especially important if whatever they're rolling for is vital to the continuation of the story.

The other important point is that failing a roll shouldn't always mean failing to obtain goods/services. The GM can always say that the players manage to get what they're after but there's some sort of penalty; - this is especially important if whatever they're rolling for is vital to the continuation of the story.

Current the system gives absolutely no mention of this as a resolution mechanic and would just a be a house rule given it is telling you that you can attempted again at a lower value item.

The system as is = "failed a acquisition roll? Sucks to be you."

This is by far the worst part of the system and makes it garbage. They should implement that fix to make it not garbage.

Current the system gives absolutely no mention of this as a resolution mechanic and would just a be a house rule given it is telling you that you can attempted again at a lower value item.

The system as is = "failed a acquisition roll? Sucks to be you."

This is by far the worst part of the system and makes it garbage. They should implement that fix to make it not garbage.

Kingcom you may want to give chapters 8 & 9 a read. What MaliciousOnion described is exactly how the book suggests you approach all rolls.

The other important point is that failing a roll shouldn't always mean failing to obtain goods/services. The GM can always say that the players manage to get what they're after but there's some sort of penalty; - this is especially important if whatever they're rolling for is vital to the continuation of the story.

Current the system gives absolutely no mention of this as a resolution mechanic and would just a be a house rule given it is telling you that you can attempted again at a lower value item.

The system as is = "failed a acquisition roll? Sucks to be you."

This is by far the worst part of the system and makes it garbage. They should implement that fix to make it not garbage.

This is Game Mastering 101 and should be mandatory in every rulebook ever. If it's not in 2e, FFG should fix that.

Kingcom you may want to give chapters 8 & 9 a read. What MaliciousOnion described is exactly how the book suggests you approach all rolls.

No it doesn't, it refers to general influence use not use with regards to acquisitions which it goes out of its way to break up into another section. If thats how its supposed to be played, put it together. Currently how it is set up its a hardline mechanical process.

"Liked" a couple of posts above. I agree that this falls under "don't test for irrelevancies" but for the sake of a paragraph it gives good guidance for players and new GMs as to where that should fall.

I like the idea of really easy stuff becoming irrelevant as your influence goes up. I agree that buying a handful of shells is trivial for an inquisitor but for a relatively new agent, it may be more of an issue; equally, finding shelter for the night (at least somewhere nice ) shouldn't be automatic unless you're prepared to flash official influence (hence costing you subtlety). Most places accept an Imperial Express Black credit card with an Ordos logo, after all.

One footnote - it should be your influence plus any relevant bonuses; if FFG introduces an equivalent to 'Excessive Wealth' as a talent, or if you're trying to requisition stuff in a way that a peer talent comes into play.

Yeah, I included an 'after applying any appropriate modifiers' bit in there to account for that sort of thing, as well as locational modifiers and the like.